Funding survey / funding discussion

[ianfaircloud]

This year, many could benefit from the funding data we gathered last year.  Last year's survey was a real success; I think there were 25+ programs represented (and 53 responses).

 

Now and in the future, many could benefit from the funding data we gather this year. One idea behind the funding survey project is that over time the philosophical community will have a lot of data on funding over many years.

 

This is all to say that I hope you'll contribute to this year's funding survey. It takes only a moment. It's anonymous. And it's a small way to contribute to a worthy project. Please contribute! We don't yet have data on a lot of programs. If you see that a program's data is missing and know someone who has access to the data, please encourage that person to contribute, too. Also, redundant responses (more than one response concerning the same program) are helpful, too.

 

 

 

[ianfaircloud]

Moving this to top. It takes only a few minutes!!! Please fill out this year's funding survey. Last year we had 53 responses! This year we have just about 17.

[philstudent1991]

I also encourage you to take the few moments to fill this out. I think this can be very helpful. Some people think of funding as binary: either there is funding or there is not. This is not the case. There is a wide range of funding and that matters greatly. Please do share information about your program.  

[philstudent1991]

Bump

 

Funding packages can differ by more than 10,000 a year even among ranked programs (and it's not always the highest ranked program with the best package! private vs public is a better indicator). Please take the few moments to fill out this form!

[ianfaircloud]

A final bump of this thread. The site is fully updated, but there are quite a few schools not represented. If you haven't filled out the funding survey, please do. Also, if you're comparing your offer to other offers, this site may be helpful to you.

[thatsjustsemantics]

A final bump of this thread. The site is fully updated, but there are quite a few schools not represented. If you haven't filled out the funding survey, please do. Also, if you're comparing your offer to other offers, this site may be helpful to you.

This is an excellent survey, thank you. Do you have a post somewhere in regards to how to read these funding packages, however? I notice a great disparity between places like University of Arizona and Stanford University when it comes to funding packages, but I know the latter's location is extremely expensive, so I'm not sure how to weigh whether one school's funding packages are much better than anothers.

For instance, John Hopkins is listed as offering somewhere around 28.5K/yr, but is that because the school's funding package is so generous or because the cost of living is high? If there were some way to assign a value to a funding package, that would be extremely helpful.

[Duns Eith]

TJSemantics: we could, w/out making an evaluative grade system for the actual packages, at least provide some publicly available info, like median rent, cost of living, and population of the city/metro. (Figures easily obtained at AreaVibes)

Edited April 11, 2015 by Turretin

[ianfaircloud]

This is an excellent survey, thank you. Do you have a post somewhere in regards to how to read these funding packages, however? I notice a great disparity between places like University of Arizona and Stanford University when it comes to funding packages, but I know the latter's location is extremely expensive, so I'm not sure how to weigh whether one school's funding packages are much better than anothers.

For instance, John Hopkins is listed as offering somewhere around 28.5K/yr, but is that because the school's funding package is so generous or because the cost of living is high? If there were some way to assign a value to a funding package, that would be extremely helpful.

 

This is such an important consideration. I've lived in six cities with zip codes beginning with 0, 1, 2, 5, 6, and 7. In my experience, people from urban centers on the coasts don't usually appreciate the difference in cost of living in the middle of the country (or really outside of these urban centers). We're talking very serious differences. I could get a beautiful place, highly desirable, two-bedrooms in St. Louis for $1000 -- easily. When I lived there, I saw great, two-bedroom places for $800. These are usually larger places, too, because -- generally speaking -- Midwesterners demand more space. (They're used to it.)

 

You mentioned Baltimore. It's one of the less expensive urban centers on the East Coast. Just to address Johns Hopkins in particular: $28.5k is very good, in my view. That's one of the best offers of any department, all things considered.

 

Notice that public institutions typically offer less. Don't expect a public institution to compete with an elite, private school.

 

Some of the better offers I've seen are Pittsburgh's, Penn's, and Princeton's. Cost of living in these three areas is not too high (regionally), and each of these schools offers a very nice financial package, all things considered. Princeton's is very impressive. Compare this to Stanford's. $31k for Stanford is really not a very good deal, in my view. Look-- nobody's gonna complain about getting a fully-funded offer to study at Stanford. But it's worth mentioning that Stanford's financial offer is kinda mediocre, given the cost of living in the area.

 

I also think that there are some very low offers that are perhaps even too low for the area. Just for example: University of Arizona, University of Wisconsin Madison, and CUNY offers are too low, in my view. I'd put them on par, all things considered, with Stanford's. (Too low for what? Well, maybe they're too low for most people to sustain an average graduate-student lifestyle without incurring some debt. E.g. Arizona's $15k is going to be a little over $1000 a month to cover all expenses. Also, it's contingent on a lot of TAing-- three classes a semester, if I understand correctly. On the other hand, Arizona covers health insurance.)

 

Actually, the more you look at these offers, the more you can't help but feel that most of them are not-great offers. Everybody who gets a funded offer is lucky to get a funded offer. You make the most of the situation. I would have been thrilled to get any of these.

 

Someone offered us this link. Just beware that I'm not sure whether this calculator is completely fair and accurate. There's no substitute for reaching out to current students to see what they think about cost of living.

 

My own way of approaching funding is not to take "small" differences too seriously. That's probably not everyone's approach. I just figure that most of us can adjust our spending habits and living habits to fit (roughly) the fully-funded offers of most of these schools. There will be differences, and those differences may be the difference between additional debt and no additional debt. My own view is that things get tougher when you're talking about "big" differences. E.g. attending someplace that either doesn't fully fund, doesn't remit tuition, or gives a package valued at less than (the equivalent of) what's offered at UW Madison, all things considered. I think Madison is roughly the low cut-off; below that level, I, personally, have more serious concerns.

 

For the heck of it, use the cost of living calculator to which I linked above. E.g. What $15k does in Norman, Oklahoma (University of Oklahoma), $25k does in Boston, MA (MIT, BU, BC, Harvard, Tufts, Brandeis-- though there are some cheaper places near Brandeis, because Brandeis is located in Waltham, MA.). Frankly, I think this $15/25 difference is conservative. Boston is easily double Norman, based on my experience. I've spent a lot of time in both places.

 

All of this is very personal. No doubt there are people who would think I'm pretty crazy to worry about an offer less than Madison's.

[herenowagain]

 

You mentioned Baltimore. It's one of the less expensive urban centers on the East Coast. Just to address Johns Hopkins in particular: $28.5k is very good, in my view. That's one of the best offers of any department, all things considered.

 

 

 

I agree. Baltimore has a low-ish cost of living and that seems like a good sized offer.

Edited April 11, 2015 by herenowagain

[jailbreak]

I agree. Baltimore has a low-ish cost of living and that seems like a good sized offer.

 

The people I met at Hopkins said they could easily afford a two-bedroom apartment without roommates on that stipend. They seemed to think it was more than enough to live on.

[Dumbnamechange]

As someone from Baltimore, I might just chip in that—as with every city—it all depends on the neighborhoods you live in. Obviously, the gentrified streets have only been getting more expensive (especially right around JHU, Charles Village), but it's not like you'll be significantly safer or anything living there—it just looks nicer and that's about it. I strongly recommend moving towards the outskirts of the city, where some decent-enough apartments in decent-enough neighborhoods open up at pretty great prices. Three friends of mine just grabbed a large three story townhouse for ~$1.2k collectively; three others pay twice that to live in an one-floor apartment that's half the size, roughly as nice, and closer to the city.

The cost of living is dynamic: you can live very cheaply if you want to (well, in most aspects, I suppose). 

Edited April 11, 2015 by Dumbnamechange

[ianfaircloud]

As with every city—it all depends on the neighborhoods you live in.

 

Agreed. I know that some people on this forum have basically not lived beyond one or two cities, and those people may not have experienced this. But it's quite true, in my experience, that rent varies widely by neighborhood. For this reason, I highly recommend PadMapper.com. Even if you aren't able to find the right place, you can get a true sense of the cost of rent by neighborhood. I've used this tool in three apartment searches (in three cities).

[Franzkafka]

I have been admitted into Memphis and Tulane this year (both are PhD acceptances), but got no funding from them. It seems that almost half of their admitted students get absolutely no funding, so I'm strongly against applying there. Anyway, PM is welcome. 

[Duns Eith]

Agreed. I know that some people on this forum have basically not lived beyond one or two cities, and those people may not have experienced this. But it's quite true, in my experience, that rent varies widely by neighborhood. For this reason, I highly recommend PadMapper.com. Even if you aren't able to find the right place, you can get a true sense of the cost of rent by neighborhood. I've used this tool in three apartment searches (in three cities).

This.

 

I used similar with HotPads, which showed a heatmap. (I am unsure whether Hotpads still has this function)